When the greenhouse was built last summer, I thought I'd be storing tools and dirt and such and I could start some pretty vines from seed and maybe some veggies of unknown variety. The fiancé and my mother got on the planting bandwagon on my behalf and for anniversary and Christmas got me various plant stuffs. One of the fiancés gifts was a salsa garden kit. Because yum! And I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes, but they grow so well here! My very own mother got me alyssium seeds (that I put somewhere SAFE and now cannot find to save my life) and five hundred million degradable cups. My excitement to grow veggies this year has deffinitely been moved up MANY notches. All the cups my mother got me are full of soil just waiting for warmer weather!

Sadly, I could not start the tomatoes from seed in the greenhouse because even now, at the end of March, the greenhouse still drops below freezing. And tomatoes aren't really a fan of that. And we don't have a spot for seed starts in the house. So this year I will acquire starts of the various plants I could not start from seed. Regardless of this, it has given me more time to focus on prepping for other plants.

I originally thought I would use the greenhouse for flowering plants, such as vines as mentioned earlier. I want vines to grow up the boring gray cement wall in the back yard. So I ordered some seeds online from Amazon (perhaps don't do this. I have no idea if these seeds are actually what were pictured and could be something terribly invasive. Mine will stay in pots until I'm convinced they are what they should be); two types of honeysuckle, a ruffly looking clematis, and a trumpet vine. The vine seeds didn't come with much documentation and most of it was not in english so I've named them myself based on the pictures provided on Amazon. These are not actual names. They should all be pretty and hopefully hummingbirds will enjoy them and the hummingbirds will help with mosquito abatement naturally. Fingers crossed!

I planted a few of these vine seeds in February. Not all of them, also not my best idea! I am still watering them, but it has dropped below freezing so many times since planting the seeds that I am shocked to see 2 or 3 sprouts. But I'll try more seeds once it stays above 50 degrees at night.

I've had a honeysuckle plant for a few years and it's moved with me in it's lovely red pot and mini dollar store lattice. It outgrew it's lattice in 2019 and turned shrub-like since I keep pruning it to try and keep it contained to its mini lattice. The fiancé suggested we plant it in the back yard as the first vine to grow up one of the columns. So we did after it was detached from it's mini lattice. That lattice did not survive the detachment of vines. I wasn't sure if the honeysuckle would survive either, but this spring it has started to sprout its greenery!

I've prepped for seeds, I'm ready. Mother nature hasn't quite finished her warm-up yet. So I'll try to be patient. And come up with ideas for next winter so that I CAN grow more from seed without the fear of them freezing.

I thought it might be helpful if I created a breakdown of what I wanted to grow this year. Since I haven't actually grown a garden since I was a kid one would think I would start off small and grow from there. But where is the fun in that?! I have onion starts already, and the seeds for herbs and accorn squash I can plant in about a month, but there are other plants I'd like to try and the fiancé is getting mor einterested in what I plant so that he can cook with them. So below is a list of things we are interested in trying this year!

OUTDOOR VEGGIES

Artichoke (?)

Carrots (varigated in colors)

Cucumber

Garlic (?)

Hot Peppers: Anaheim Chili, Cayenne, Habanero, Jalapeno

Onions: Walla Walla, Long Whites

Peas (?)

Potatoes (?)

Pumpkin (?)

Squash: Accorn, Crookneck, Zuchini

Sweet Peppers: Banana, Yolo Wonder

Tomatillo

Tomatoes: Beefsteak, Black Krim, Hamson, Red Cherry, Yellow Pear

OUTDOOR HERBS

Basil: Genovese, Italian Large Leaf, Mammoth, Red Rubin, Sweet

Chives: Regular & Garlic

Cilantro

Mint

Rosemary

Thyme

INDOOR/GREENHOUSE PLANTS

Aloe Vera

FRUIT SHRUBS/TREES (in pots)

Fig

Pomegranate

Raspberry

FLOWERS

Alyssium

Bachelor Button

Day Lily

Nasturtium

Phlox

Poppies

Zinnia

BULBS

Daffodils

Hyacinth

VINES

Clematis

Honeysuckle

Trumpet

In writing this list out, I think I might be crazy...we will need a larger yard, or eliminate a ton.